Authors to read, discuss and sign books: Three events scheduled this week for Southwest Michigan

KALAMAZOO — Book lovers have an opportunity this week to meet three authors, two homegrown and the other a professor of contemporary fiction at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.

First up is Rick Chambers, who will visit Michigan News Agency, 308 W. Michigan Ave., in downtown Kalamazoo from 6 to 8 p.m., Wednesday, to talk about his novel, “Radiance.”

Chambers, of Portage, spends his days as the local spokesman for Pfizer. But Gazette readers are also familiar with his short stories which have won numerous Community Literary Awards since 1998 and have been featured in the newspaper.

Earlier this year, Chambers told the Gazette, “I enjoy writing parables in the fantasy or science-fiction genre to prompt people to think in new and different ways about life and faith." His novel, “Radiance,” is in that vein as it tells the story of powerful Eris Lateinos, an entrepreneur with a plan to mine asteroids to bring new prosperity to Earth. A former associate, Tristan West, suspects the plan will end up causing far more harm than good. West reluctantly joins a strange pair looking to find 10 people who possess the “radiance” and who may be able to save humanity.

In the nonfiction realm, Kalamazoo College professor Gail Griffin will discuss and read from her new book, “The Events of October: Murder-Suicide on a Small Campus,” at the Kalamazoo Public Library, 315 S. Rose St., from 7 to 8:30 p.m. Thursday. The book examines the 1999 deaths of K College students Neenef Odah and Maggie Wardle and the role of intimate partner violence on campus and in society today.

Finally, Kalamazoo Valley Community College and Kazoo Books will welcome Minrose Gwin for a visit later this week. Gwin is the author of a memoir about growing up in Mississippi, “Wishing for Snow,” and her more recent novel, “The Queen of Palmyra.” It is the story of a young girl who witnesses her father’s brutality in the 1960s and has to live with what she saw.

Gwin will appear at Kazoo Books, 2413 Parkview, Kalamazoo, from 3 to 5 p.m., Saturday, to read from and sign her books. Gwin will also appear at KVCC from 2 to 4 p.m. on Nov. 23 in Room 4370/4380 to read and sign books.